How to Join a Motorcycle Club
by masteremeraldholder
Summary: Merida didn't expect much from the rusty, dingy auto shop she and Elinor are forced to go to, and is surprised by who she finds. A squad of self-made auto mechanics, amongst them Hiccup, their awkward, limping leader. At first glance, Merida sees them as nothing more, that is until she discovers they're a motorcycle club. Now she wants in.
1. Curiosity

**I haven't written mericcup in a while, but I've had this idea floating around in my head for forever, so here goes!**

* * *

Merida and her mother, Elinor, were driving home from a banquet they'd attended. It was to promote her father's business as the owner of a chain of car dealerships. They had to get all fancied up to look like an all-American family, even though they weren't even from America. They'd immigrated to the US from Scotland when Merida was a toddler; Her brothers weren't even born yet. Merida thought it was a load of hogwash, honestly.

Merida gazed out the window, her mind wandering to what kind of trouble the wee devils could be getting into now. They'd decided to stay back with Fergus at the venue. Fergus rarely paid attention to them, meaning the were free to do whatever they wanted. Boy, were they lucky.

It was silent in the car other than the steady flow of cool air blowing from the vents.

"Ahem." Elinor cleared her throat, hoping to get her daughter's attention. It didn't work. "Ahem!" She tried again. Merida still stared mindlessly out the window. "Merida!"

"Hmm? What?" Merida mumbled coming from her daze.

"Ah've been trying ta' get yer attention for quite some time now." Elinor voiced, looking over at Merida, then returning her eyes to the road.

"Oh...Sorry. Just thinking', ah guess." Merida stared back out the window.

"Well." Elinor took a large breath, a sign that she was about to go into a long discussion. Merida rolled her eyes, hoping that it was about nothing that bad. "Ah've been thinkin' too. Ah think it's high time you've found yerself a boy."

"What?" Merida whipped her gaze from the window so fast that her red locks bounced wildly.

"Now, let me finish, first. Yer nineteen years old an' ye haven't had a single boyfriend. Not one! Ah've tried ta' be patient, but now I'm wonderin' if yer really even tryin'."

"Mum!" Merida groaned. "Ah've got more important stuff to work about, like me grades an' basketball, an' softball, an' volleyball, an'-

"Ah think that's far too many sports, actually. Ye do so many, when would ye even have time to socialize?"

"That's the point! Ah don't want ta!" Merida looked at her mother incredulously.

"Nonsense, Merida. Socializin' is all a part of the whole college experience. How many people do ye even have to call ye friends? Hmm?"

Well, there's Mulan, Rapunzel, and Flynn, and...would her coaches count?

"See what ah mean!" Elinor pointed a finger at Merida. "Ye don't know anybody. That's why ye need to go out an' try to meet someone. You'll turn into a hermit soon and..."

Merida zoned out, staring out of the window. She hated when her mother got like this. Nothing could stop her when she was in her rants.

 _Why don't I have any friends?_

 _It could be because you're so rude to people._

 _Shut up, brain._

Merida looked forward, bored with looking out the window. She noticed several shining objects on the shoulder of the road. They twinkled under the bright sun. More pieces of the shining objects were on the road ahead of them.

That stuff looks awfully sharp...

Merida suddenly realized what the shiny, sharp objects were. "Mum, look out, that's broken glass!"

"Oh no! Oh dear!" Elinor tried to swerve away from it, but it was too late. They drove clean through the glass. Neither of them said anything for a moment. Then Elinor began to panic. "What do we do now!"

"Mum, just pull over."

"Alright." She pulled the black SUV over onto the side of the highway. The two got out to observe the tires.

"Glass is in all of 'em." Merida said from where she was squatted by the front passenger-side tire. "An' there's only one spare in the back. Ah can change one, we'll have ta' go ta' a shop to get the others fixed, though."

"Heavens no, yer a lady!" Elinor said, primly. "We'll just find a shop to change all of them."

"Ugh. Fine." Merida grunted as the two got back in the car. Elinor took the next exit, which was in a particularly bad area of town. Everything was either boarded up or deserted all together. It was like a ghost town.

They drove a short way before finding a shop. An old, rusty sign was on the front of an equally old and rusted building. It read: _Berks' Auto Garage_.

"Ah suppose this'll do." Elinor muttered, before turning into the empty parking lot.

The two got out of the car, and walked to the old building, finding the lobby. Elinor used her sleeve to grasp the door handle, mumbling something about germs, and cautiously entered. The room was run-down; The green-striped wallpaper was peeling. The few chairs in the room were dingy and dirty. A small, black television that in the corner didn't even work, it showed static. Merida could see a spot of mold in the ceiling. She glanced over at her mother. Her face was slightly green, as if she was about to be sick. Great.

There was an older man sitting at the reception desk. He had a long, blond mustache that was knotted, and a large under bite. His most shocking feature, however, was a wooden hand that replace his left hand. "Sorry." He said with a strong accent. "We're closed." He studied a book, unamused.

"Please, we just need our tires changed." Elinor spoke.

The man shook his head, not looking up. "No can do, lassie. We just closed up."

"Sir," Elinor tried, "Ah' have glass in all four of ma' tires an' ah' don't think ah' can make it home. Please, sir, reconsider."

The man brought his eyes from the book, a heartfelt look on his face. "Tragic. But the answer's still no." He went back to his book.

Merida was getting upset, this man was more interested in a book than helping folks who really needed it. It was selfish!

"Listen here ya' ninny!" Merida stalked forward, slamming a tiny fist on the desk. The man jerked up, his eyes finding Merida's furious blue ones.

"Merida!" Elinor scolded from behind her. Merida ignored her and continued.

"We've got glass in all of our tires an' no way to get home, an' we'll be stuck here unless you get yer lazy butt up an' find some tires. Ah' am not going ta' be stranded out here in the middle of no where because some lazy bum doesn't want to do his job! Now, yer going ta' help us, an' yer going ta' do it NOW."

"Yes, ma'am." The man got up and hobbled—Merida hadn't noticed he had a peg leg—to the door behind him.

Merida stood back and crossed her arms, a pleased look on her face.

"That was uncalled for." Elinor said, her voice taut.

"What! He wasn't even going to help us if ah' hadn't put ma' foot down!"

"We would have found another shop to help us then."

Merida huffed, blowing a red curl from her face. The man walked back in. "They're gettin' yer car right now."

"Thank you." Merida replied with a smile. "See? Was that so hard?"

The man chuckled. "Yer a feisty one, aren't ye?"

"She certainly is." Elinor murmured.

The man gave a hearty laugh. "We could use someone with yer spunk around here!"

"Thank you, sir." Elinor stepped forward, nudging Merida to the side. "Ah greatly appreciate this favor."

Merida gave her a look and headed towards the door. This was a sure sign that Elinor was about to talk this man's ear off. The man seemed harmless, so Merida was fine with leaving her mother alone with him, for a moment at least.

Outside of the lobby, she could hear a conversation.

"Hey, this is a nice car! Wonder who it's for?" It was a male voice, he spoke loud and confident, like he was trying to impress someone.

"Yeah, and it's not like the fakes we usually see riding in! Remember that fake Escalade that came in last week? The emblem wasn't even Cadillac! This one's the real deal though." Another male spoke, he sounded intelligent, like a know-it-all.

"Hey, will you guys shut up? There's still a job to do. Tuffnut, turn on the lift." This was a female, she sounded like the alpha-figure of the shop.

"Sure thing, Boss-lady!" A voice replied.

Merida peered around the corner, catching a glimpse of what was going on. A girl with blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, was pulling on a pair of leather gloves. Merida guessed she was the one who was ordering the others around.

Once the car was in the air, a stouter, shorter guy with messy black hair and a baseball cap, came up to the front passenger tire with a wrench and began to loosen the nuts out of the tire. He pulled of the hubcap and handed it to the girl. She gave it to a portly guy with blond hair who set it aside.

"Ruffnut!" The girl yelled, as she took the tire from the stout one, "Eret! Get your asses out here and help!"

"Ah was trying to," A large, bulky man comes from the back area, a slender girl with wild, blond hair follows him, clinging to his abnormally large bicep, "but _she_ keeps bothering me!"

"Aww, Astrid," The girl says, "we were just having fun!"

"Get to work on the other tires." Astrid, apparently, replies unimpressed.

"Gladly." 'Eret' yanks his arms from 'Ruffnut' and power-walks away, not before the girl kisses her hand and touches his cheek.

Merida watches as the six—Okay, there was Astrid, Eret, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and two others who names she didn't know—worked to change the tires. Astrid spoke up after a while. "Hey, where's Hiccup?"

"I dunno." The stout one said. "Last I saw he was in the back tuning up his bike."

"Hiccup!" Astrid called. "Come on!"

"Sorry." A tall, lanky boy with thick, brown hair came from the back area. He walked awkwardly and slowly. "I was busy."

He made eye contact with Merida. He had amazingly green eyes. They were steady, yet full of fire. It made Merida shiver. He broke his gaze with Merida and walked over to Astrid. "What do ya need?"

Astrid stopped mid-drill, giving 'Hiccup'—Seriously, what was up with these names?—a deadpan look. "Gee, I don't know, maybe some help?"

"Ahh, sorry can't help ya there. See, I'm assistant manager today, meaning I'm supposed to watch you guys work and supervise, y'know, kinda like you're always doing."

The others laughed—"Burn!" Tuffnut shouted!—as Astrid turned red-faced. "Hiccup!"

He laughed. "Just kidding." He took the drill from Astrid and finished tightening the nuts back into place. He twisted the hubcap back on and threw his arms up in a flourish. "There. Was that helpful?"

"Yeah. But, as assistant manager you're supposed to write up the bill and tell the customer how the job was but, y'know, thanks for doing my job." Astrid smirked as a dumbstruck look on came on Hiccup's face.

The others laughed again—"Ooh, bigger burn!" Tuffnut shouted!—and Merida herself let out a little chuckle. She hadn't expected it to echo, and that's exactly what it did. All seven—Two whose names she still didn't know!— zoned in on Merida. She stared back, giving a small nod, then ducked her head back around the corner. She stood there, her back pressed against the wall, listening still.

"Who's she?" She heard a male voice say, it sounded like the chunkier one.

"The customer, I think." This one was Hiccup's. "I guess I should go give her the bill, huh?"

She heard the sound of gravel crunching and backed away from the wall, rounding the corner and shot back inside the lobby.

Her mother was leaning on the counter, a hand on her hip, and the man behind the desk was laughing, his belly jiggling with every breath.

The boy, Hiccup, came in. Up closer, Merida could see that he had two braids in his messy hair, a piercing in his left earlobe, and a long, abstract tattoo on his left arm.

He eyed Merida, then her mother, and approached Elinor. "Hello, Mrs..."

"Dunbroch! Elinor Dunbroch." She stuck out a hand. He whipped his hands on his pants—baggy, black jeans—and accepted it politely, shaking it gingerly.

"Mrs. Dunbroch." He repeated, his eyes darting over to Merida,—Elinor took this moment to wipe her hand on her pants—then back to Elinor. "We replaced all of your tires and their bringing your car around right now."

"Great!" Elinor said. "How much do ah' owe ya?"

He pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket, handing it to her. "Six hundred and twenty dollars. You can check out with Gobber over there."

"Alright." She skimmed over the receipt and turned to the man, Gobber, apparently. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome." He gave Elinor a small smile and started towards the door, visibly limping. He nodded at Merida, like she'd done before, and left.

* * *

A week had passed since the tire incident, yet it hadn't left Merida's mind. She found herself thinking about the people. Hiccup, in particular. She couldn't shake the thought of how he'd kept looking at her. It was weird...

Merida now sat at a red light, a towel draped across her neck. She'd just met up with Mulan at the community basketball court for a match, in which she emerged victorious.

The light turned green and Merida took her foot off the brake to go, when in the right lane, a vehicle whizzed. It was black and sleek, a motorbike.

It was gone before Merida even had a chance to blink, all that was left of it was a fading red taillight. Following the black blur **(1)** , was a speedy—but not as fast as the black blur—blue tinted bike. Merida could make out two riders on it. After this, two more followed; One was a larger bike with high handlebar; The other a green colored bike with a passenger in the sidecar.

Falling behind, the last rider was of a stockier build, and thus his (or her?) bike was built to support his build. It was bulkier, broader, and ultimately slower, so Merida got a good look at his face. And she was surprised, to say the least, by who it was.

She recognized his plump face, even behind those dark glasses and half helmet. He was the chunky guy with blonde hair from the auto shop.

Merida sat there awestruck as several cars beeped and swerved around her. The auto mechanics from that run-down, deserted auto shop were bikers? This was as crazy as it seemed! Yet for some reason, Merida found herself wanting, yearning to follow them. She had nothing else to do, unless she wanted to start working on her project for her history class or visit her mum and listen to her mag about her not having a boyfriend. A hard pass for both.

Merida decided to follow them; she had nothing to lose. She finally pulled off, beginning her search to track down that last rider.

* * *

After exceeding the speed limit and breaking several traffic laws, Merida found the rider and trailed him from a safe distance.

She followed him for what seemed like hours, out of the city into the rural outskirts, and is relieved when he finally turned off the main road onto a dirt road. Merida waited a moment, so not to make it obvious, then turned after him. She followed the road until it widened out and a structure appeared. It was massive. With several hangars connect by countless ropes and ladder; it was almost as big as Elinor's house. There was even a mount for bikes.

The chunky rider had parked his bike there and was walking around the building towards the back. It was hidden behind the large structure.

Curiosity go the best of Merida as she put the car in park and hopped our, following where the chubby rider had went. She stepped carefully over a pile of leaves and peeked around the corner of the building. There she saw the same seven people from a week earlier sitting on logs around a smoldering fire. Hiccup, Astrid, Eret, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and the two nameless others.

"Ahh, Fishlegs!" The stout one with the baseball cap said. "Last as always."

"Get off him, Snotlout. You were fourth!" Astrid smirked and 'Snotlout's'—What were his parent's on when they named him?—face fell.

"I-I was not! I beat the twins!"

"Yeah, no." Hiccup voiced. "I was here first and I specifically remember seeing the twins _before_ you."

Astrid had a smug look plastered on her face, while Snotlout sat there looking devastated.

"Just so you know," Tuffnut says, "I probably could've beat Astrid if I hadn't had to lug around some _useless weight_."

"Hey!" Ruffnut shoved him, and he fell backwards off the bench; laughter ensued.

"In your dreams, Tuff." Astrid waved an unamused hand at him once he'd sat up. "But I know that I could've beaten Hiccup if a certain someone hadn't almost pulled me off my bike."

More laughter came as the burly one, Eret, smiled. "Guess Ah'm not used ta' ridin' yet."

Merida watched on as they chatted, and deep down, she wondered what it was like to be a part of a close knit group like this. She felt a weird tug at her chest before she shook the feeling from her head. She shifted and in the process, stepped back on the patch of leaves she's made and effort of stepping over before.

 _Crunch!_

"Hey, what was that?" Fishlegs jumped, his eyes darting around warily.

"Calm down, Fishface." Snotlout stood. "Probably a raccoon or something. _I'll_ go check it out, y'know, manly stuff."

"Where's the man?" Astrid mumbled loudly and Eret laughed.

"Screw you, Astrid! I'll come back with a raccoon, you'll see."

"Hey, let me go with ya." Eret stood up too."Ah'm down for some raccoon wrangling."

"Yeah, okay. It's not like I'll need the help, though. And don't try to steal all the glory when I catch it."

Merida was frozen as the two started towards her. She knew she couldn't make it to her car, it was at least 60 yards away.

What could she do? What could she do! Damn her curiosity!

Merida ducked behind the corner and inhaled. Their footsteps were closer now. It would only be a matter of time before they found her. There was no escaping it. She inhaled again and braced for the worst.

* * *

 **(1) Yes, this is a Sonic reference. I couldn't help myself!**

 **TONS of typos probably, oh well. :| what do ya'll think? drop a review! ;7**


	2. The Ultimatum

**Some Scottish terms you'll need to know:**  
 **"Bauchle" - a worthless person**

* * *

Time seemed to slow as Merida stood there. She felt like it'd been hours before the two appeared.

She saw Eret first, he went straight and didn't turn around at all. He didn't notice her. Merida turned her head to the side, hoping that Snotlout would overlook her the same way... That didn't happen.

Snotlout didn't go straight, he rounded the corner, coming face to face with Merida. He let out a high-pitched scream and stumbled backwards, Merida covered her ears. Eret whipped around as Merida glared at Snotlout, who was now on the ground.

"Oi, are ya tryin' ta make me lose ma hearin'?" She said.

"Hey! What'd ya do ta him?" Eret stalked over. He stood ominously over Merida's short stature.

"Ah didn't do anything! He just fell!"

"Looks like ya hit him!"

"How about ah hit you!" Merida sent a small fist to his chest and Eret didn't even stumble back. He only gave her a quizzical look as she clutched her now bruised hand. "What kind of man are you?"

That was when the others appeared around the corner.

"Eret, what's going-

Astrid stopped mid sentence as she almost tripped over Snotlout's legs. Hiccup caught her arm and steadied her.

"Snotlout, why are you on the ground?" Hiccup said.

"I'm thinkin' it has something to do with her." Tuffnut pointed a finger at Merida "Either that or the raccoon did a number on him."

"Ah didn't do anything to him!" Merida threw her hands in the air. "Tell 'em, ya bauchle!"

Snotlout, the bauchle apparently, stammered. "A-a girl hit me? Please!"

"Then how'd you end up down there?" Fishlegs said.

"Isn't it obvious? I, um, fell trying to catch that raccoon!"

"Yer a crummy liar, Ah mean, who'd believe that?" Merida said, her hands on her hips. "He screamed like a wee babe an' fell on him bum!"

Ruff, Tuff, and Fishlegs burst out laughing while Snotlout glared daggers at Merida.

"W-who are you?" He said as he picked himself up from the ground.

"Yeah! Who are you!" Astrid mimicked more aggressively.

"Hey...It's that girl from the shop!" Tuffnut snapped his fingers in realization.

"It sure is! What's she doing here?" Ruffnut replied.

"Are you stalking us?" Astrid crossed her arms, her eyes narrowing.

"What? No!" Merida was hurt by what they were insinuating. She barely knew these people and they were already throwing around assumptions. Then again, _she_ was the one who'd trespassed on their property...

"Then, why are you here? This place isn't exactly the easiest to find."

Merida clasped her hands together, a nervous habit of her's. "Ah...Ah followed him." She pointed at Fishlegs, who gave her a confused look.

"I knew this would happen!" Snotlout said. "The slowest rider, the weakest link would give us away."

Fishlegs is apparently fed up with Snotlout's mouth as he says, "Snotlout, this isn't the FBI, I didn't _give_ us away. And who says _you're_ not the weak link." They all crack up, all except Astrid.

"Why?" Astrid says to Merida, gritting her teeth.

"Um...Ah dinnae?"

"That's bull."

Merida's eyebrows furrowed. This girl was _really_ testing her. "Ah saw you on yer bikes an' ah thought they looked interestin'..."

Astrid only stared back at her, an eyebrow raised questionably.

Merida sighed and made herself continue. "...An' Ah thought that maybe Ah could join...join yer club."

"You? Join _our_ gang?" Snotlout guffawed, the twins doing the same and he wiped a tear from his eye.

"Why should we let you join? You don't even have a bike." Astrid said.

"Ahm not as dumb as Ah look, y'know." Merida said, annoyed. "Ma dad's a car salesman, so Ah know about cars, Ahm not useless. Maybe Ah can get a job in yer shop so Ah can show you?"

"Whoa, joining our club, now a job? I must say, you've got some pretty big balls to ask us that."

"Ah could say the same for you, 'cause if ya knew who Ah was ya damn sure wouldn't be talkin' to me like this!"

"Okay! I think that's enough!" Hiccup steps in front of Astrid before she has a chance to respond. "Let's just calm down." He makes a point of breathing in and out visibly. "Now, is that better?"

"No." Merida and Astrid respond at the same time.

"See, you're at least agreeing on something!" Hiccup throws his hands up, excited. Both Merida and Astrid roll their eyes. "N-now, Astrid, I think that what you said was highly uncalled for and I think that you should apologize to..."

"Merida." Merida mumbles.

"Merida." Hiccup finishes, eyeing Astrid hopefully.

"No." Astrid says firmly and turns to walk back towards the pit, Eret following her. Merida watches, her lips pursed angrily.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. She's always been that way." Hiccup rubs the back of his neck. "But, if you're that interested, we could always use an extra hand around the shop. A-and if you show us that we can trust you, we'll let you join our gang, I mean, if you still want to after _that_. We'd be happy to have you."

"Really?" Merida eyes him skeptically.

"Really." He nods.

"Hiccup, don't tell me you're serious." Snotlout murmurs.

"Very." Hiccup extends a hand to Merida. "Whaddya say...Merida?" She studies his hand for a moment, weighing her choices. She decides that she'd rather deal with these hooligans than being alone and smiles as she accepts his hand.

* * *

She started the next day. Hiccup said he would go home and talk to his dad about the details, but she had the job for sure. It was funny, Merida thought. She'd come there snooping around and in under thirty minutes she had a job.

Merida was smiling as she drove home to her apartment. That's when Elinor called her.

"Hi, dear!" Her mother said cheerily.

"Ello, mum."

"What've you been up to?"

"Oh, nothing' much." Merida grinned to herself. What she didn't know wouldn't kill her.

* * *

Merida woke up early the next day. She was filled with so much nervousness and anticipation that she couldn't sleep. She was out of bed at 8 am and realized that Hiccup hadn't told her what time to come in. All he'd said was 'We usually don't get busy 'til around three.' Did that mean come in at three? It was quite unprofessional, Merida thought.

She went into her bathroom at 8:30 and decided to try and get herself ready for the day. She moved at a snail's pace, taking almost ten minutes to pull her curls back into a decent ponytail. She threw on an old track t-shirt and some holey jeans before slipping her feet into a pair of running shoes. She checked the clock again. 8:45, it read.

Merida huffed and left the bathroom. Even moving her slowest, she was still too fast. She grabbed her phone from her nightstand and made a stop in her kitchen, picking an apple up from the dish on her counter and was out the door by nine. She got in her Honda and headed for the shop. Traffic wasn't too bad, so she made it there in about fifteen minutes. She parked in the front and walked into the shop area. There she saw Hiccup, Astrid, Eret, and a girl with dark hair chattering amongst one another.

"Merida!" Hiccup smiled as he saw her. "Glad you could make it."

"Speak for yourself." Astrid frowns and walks off.

Merida sighs and Hiccup throws his hands up. "Eret, go talk to her, will you?"

Eret nods and follows Astrid.

"Merida, this is Heather." Hiccup gestured to the girl with black hair in a messy bun. "She's gonna show you around, get you acquainted with the shop." Heather gave Merida a wave. Merida only stares back. "She'll be your guide for the day." There's a loud crash then laughter from behind them, and Hiccup cringes. "Sounds like the Twins. I'll leave you two alone." He hobbles off.

"Hey." Heather smiles.

"Hello." Merida says quietly. If this girl was anything like Astrid, she knew this would _not_ end well.

"Listen," Heather places a hand on Merida's shoulder. "I was the new girl here for a while, so I know how you feel. These guys may come off as unapproachable, but that's just because they're scared of change, I mean, Hiccup had to lose a leg before they accepted motorbikes!"

"Oh." Merida is taken aback by her statement. Hiccup lost a leg? That explained his limp. She'd have to ask him about it later. "Okay. Thanks!" Merida smiles genuinely at her. She didn't seem anything like the others.

The two talked and got to know each other, and Merida learned that Heather had a bike too. Merida was asking her about her bike when Heather suddenly said, "Uh-oh. Here comes the boss."

"Who's the boss?" Merida turned around and paled as soon as she did, because in front of her was a _huge_ man with huge biceps and an equally huge red beard and probably the darkest scowl she'd ever seen.

"I'm the boss." He said.

* * *

 **Psst, can you spot the hidden eretstrid? also rip snotlout, he got rekt in this chapt. And don't worry, astrid and merida'll be besties before this story is over with! Review plz!**


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